Illuminated sign



July 14, 1931. J GROSS 1,814,150

ILLUMINATED SIGN Filed April 20. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Joseph.5. Gross.

BY [5M W ATTORNEY Filed April 20. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTo NEY toprovide an illuminated sign in which,

maybe UNITED STATES PATENT, ogrlca JOSEPH a. eaoss, or swrssvnz,'rnimmvmu, ass'rerroamo aunoaa emu coltrm, 4 coarom'rrou or rmmvmnmuma'ran are: Application meaa ru a0, 1929'. Serial 16.588319.

y' invention relates and more particularly provided with. letters gasfilled tubes.

The object of my invention, in general, is to provide an illuminatedsign that shall be simple and efiicient .in operation and capable ofbeing economically manufactured and maintained.

to illuminated signs to such signs as are embodying luminous A morespecific object of my invention is letters embodying luminous gas filledtubes disposed in such manner that they may be easily and quicklychanged or interchanged to vary the reading thereof.

Another object of my invention is to provide an illuminated sign havingchangeable letters of luminous gas filled tubes in which all the linesof lettersfin the sign shall re main substantially equally brilliantregardless of the numbers of letters embodied in each line andanyarrangement thereof.

It is also an object of my invention to provide an illuminated signembodying change 1 able letters of luminous gas filled tubes that shallbe especially well insulated from each other and also from the body orframe of the sign.

aob

' an illuminated sign Other objects of my invention'will, in part,obvious, and will in part, appear hereinafter.

For an illustration of one of the various forms my invention may take,reference may be had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a view, in front elevation, of

constructed in accordance with my invention; Y

Fig. 2 is a view, in front elevation, partly broken away, of the signillustrated in Fig. 1 with the letters and the blank letters removed;

0 I letter A embodied Fig. 3 is a view. taken along the line III-III ofFig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a view, in cross section, of the letter A in the sign,-illustrating the manner in which the letter is disposed in the sign;

Fig. 5 is a view, in rear elevation, of the in Fig. 4; and Fig. 6'is afragmentary view partly in section of a sign my invention.

The drawings illustrate an illuminated sign provided with a casing orframe-1 of a suitable sheet material that is divided into twocompartments by a partition wall 2. The corner walls of the casing 1 arewelded or otherwise-secured together and are provided with stiffeningmembers 3 of angle iron.

Mounted on 1 the front of the casing 1 is a suitable faceplate 4 that isprovided with a plurality of openings 5. All of the openings 5 are ofequal dimensions and each one is adapted'to receive and hold a luminoussign letter 6 for the purpose of forming an illuminated si .Each of thesi letters 6comprises a rarefied gas-'conductmg illuminating tube 7 thatembodying a modification of is bent into the form of one of the lettersof the alphabet and mounted upon the face of a plate or frame member 8by means of a pluralit of insulating members 9. While any suitahleluminous gas-filled tube may be utiized in constructing the letters, Iprefer to employ a'luminous tube. similar to that illustrated anddescribed in m co-pending application, Serial No'. 316,707, 1928.

The two terminalportions 10 and 11 of the luminous tube 7 are bent atright angles to the body of the letterand extend through a pair ofapertures 12 and 13 in the letter frame member 8 into cooperatingchambers that are formed by apair of insulating tubular members 14 and15 which are secured to the rear face of the frame member. Inasmuch asthe filed November 2,

tubular members 14and- 15 are constructed of stiff insulating material,they both insulate and protect the terminal portions of the luminoustubes;

As. shown, from the terminal portions of the illuminating tubes extendthrough holes in the insulating tubes and are connected to a pair ofcontact members 18 and 19 that are mounted on the fre; ends of a pair ofinsulating supports 20 the" leading-in wires 16 and 17' The insulatingsupports 20 and 21 are dis- 7 a position on [the rear face of 6 sign,the contact members 18 and 19 will engage a pair of cooperating contactmembers 22 and 23 that are mounted upon a plurality of insulatingsupports 24 secured to the rear wall of sign casing 1. Inasmuch as thecontact members 18 and 19 are mounted in exactly the same position oneach of the letters and the cooperating contact members 22 and 23 in thesign casing are disposed in the same corresponding positions withreference to the openings 5, the contact membersfor each letter willalways engage the corresponding cooperating contact members in the signwhen the letters are changed or interchanged.

In order that the letters 6 may be easily mounted in and dismounted fromtheir positions in the openings when it is desired to change orinterchangethem for varying the text of the sign, the lower edge of eachof the letter frame members 8 is bent upward and then downward to forman inverted U-shaped section 25 that may rest upon the edge 26 of eachof the openings 5 in the face plate 4.

The upper edge 27 of each of the letter frame members 8 is adapted toextend into an inverted U-shaped section 28 that is formed at'the upperedge of each of the openings 5 in the face plate 4. This constructionpermits any one of the letters 6 to be easily placed in position byplacing the upper edge 27 of the letter in the inverted U-shaped section28, shoving the letter upwardly. until its lower edge clears the loweredge 26 of the face plate and then lowering the letter until theinverted U-shaped section 25 rests astride the edge 26 of the faceplate. By reversing this operation, any one of the letters may be easilyremoved.

If desired a flange 35 may be placed around the tube 7 and welded orotherwise secured to the face of the letter frame 8 to form a channelfor the tube.

As a means for supplying high voltage for illuminating the letters inthe upper line of the sign, a transformer 29 is disposed in the lowerleft hand corner of the upper compartment with its secondary connectedto the end contact members 22 and 23 by conductors 30 and 31. When theline is completely filled with letters, the contact members .20 and 21on the letters will engage the cooperating contact members 22 and 23 inthe sign casing and thereby complete 'a series circuit for energizingthe gas filled tubes and thereby illuminating the letters. Thetransformer may receive energy from any suitable source of powerrepresented by the conductors 32 and 33.

, As shown, a transformer 34 is similarly disposed in the lower lefthand corner of the lower compartment of the sign casing an connected ina similar manner to the contact.

members for the letters 1n the lower line. Inasmuch as the number ofletter 0 enmgs 5 in each line are known, the trans ormers d of lettersin the While I have illustrated and described only one form of myinvention and one modificamay be selected to insure an equalillumination of the lines. However, in some cases the words to beembodied in each line may not contain a suflicient number of letters tofill all of the letter openings 5. I have, therefore, provided aplurality of blank letters 36 to be placed in the openings not occupiedby letters.

Each of the letter blanks 36 comprises a body member 37 of sheetmaterial of t e proper size to fill one of the letter openings 5 and itslower edge is bent into U-shape so that it may be readily disposed in orremoved from any one of the openings in a manner similar to that inwhich the letters are placed in position or removed from the sign. Apair of contact members 38 and 39 are mounted on a pair of insulatingmembers 40 and 41 on the rear face of each blank letter in position toengage the operating contact members 22 and 23 in the sign casing in thesame manner as they are engaged by the contact mem-' bers on theletters.

A conductor 42 connects the contact members 38 and 39 on the letterblanks for the purpose of completing the series circuit for the letterswhen letter blanks are included in the line. 1

In order that no difference in the illumination of the line may occurwhen letter blanks 36 are employed to fill in vacant openings, theconductor 42 that connects the contact members 38 and 39 on each of theletter blanks is constructed in the form of a resistor that isapproximately equal to the resistance of one ofthe letters. Therefore,the total resistance embodied in one line of the sign remainspractically the same regardless of thexnumber of letters or the numberof letter blanks in that line. I

Inthe modified form of my improved sign beiobserved that I have providedan illuminated sign in which gasfilled tube letters may be employed insuch a manner that they can be easily changed and interchanged and inwhich the lines remain equally illuminated regardless of the numberwords in each line of the, sign.

tion thereof, it is obvious that may changes and additionalmodifications may be made illustrated in Fig. ,6, the contact members 22and 23 are eliminated and the lamps are I lurality of flexible insulatedI outer end of insulating material therein without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention.

I claim as my invention:

An illuminated sign comprising a casin having spaced openings in oneside thereof, a plurality of posts of insulating material secured toawall of said casing,.said posts being in line, spaced substantiallyequal distances apart and extending towards said openings, a contactmember secured to the of each post, said contact members each havingyieldable end portions extending towards adjacent posts, a plurality ofplates disposed in said openings, means on said plates and casing forlocklng the plates in position in said casing tubes secured to some ofsaid plates, two posts secured in line to each plate, contact members onsaid posts, conductors connecting the terminals of the respective tubesto the posts carried by the contact members on the plates to which thetubes are secured, said plates when in position in the casing I 5 sureengagement with adjacent ends of two openings causing positiveprescontact members carried by the posts secured to said casing wall,said tubes when the lates are mounted in place, being connected incircuit relation by said means for connecting said tubes to a source ofalternating current.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto sub scribed my name this 23rd dayof February,

JOSEPH E. GROSS.

openings, luminous contact members, and a

